Tag Archives: public speaking

Obama’s Speech and the Use of Threes

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Like many of you, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Barack Obama give yet another powerful and persuasive speech today at his inauguration for presidency. He motivates, inspires and gives hope by using creative speech, story-telling devices and references to great people of the past. He also creates a vision in our heads of what a better future might actually look like and feel like. Truly uplifting and inspiring.

For those of you that missed it or want to hear it again, it is a mere Google search away. Here is one link out of many that you can follow to read and see his speech again.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Inauguration/story?id=6689022&page=1

He is a masterful speaker and I know we can learn from his style. Pay attention to his device of the use of three. He uses three adjectives, verbs or nouns often, as I did above, to speak more poetically and retain the interest of the audience. You too can do this. Sometimes use 2 descriptors or key words, mostly use 3, and you will notice that your public speaking is improved quickly, easily and with more added persuasion.
Enjoy!

Try these Tongue-twisters

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Tongue twisters are a great way to practice not only correct pronunciation, but delivery as well. I want you to first read these sentences slowly and with care to pronounce them correctly. Then read them a second time at medium ‘normal’ delivery speed. Finally, read them as fast as you can, trying to maintain clarity of speech. A friend can help you judge your clarity of words and appropriate speed.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you all, and happy holidays!!!

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
(note: ‘thunk’ is a purposeful mispronunciation or slang of ‘thought’.)

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

Ruby Rugby’s brother bought and brought her back some rubber baby-buggy bumpers.

Which witch wished which wicked wish?

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep. The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed shilly-shallied south. These sheep shouldn’t sleep in a shack; sheep should sleep in a shed.

Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs. Three twigs twined tightly.

Crisp crusts crackle crunchily.

Don’t pamper damp scamp tramps that camp under ramp lamps.

There are six shimmering sharks sharply striking shins.

Strict strong stringy Steven Stretch slickly snared six sickly silky snakes.

Just think, that sphinx has a sphincter that stinks!

They both, though, have thirty-three thick thimbles to thaw.

Cows graze in groves on grass which grows in grooves in groves.

Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons — balancing them badly.

They have left the thrift shop, and lost both their theatre tickets and the
volume of valuable licenses and coupons for free theatrical frills and thrills.

Fun right? Keep going!

Communication Workshop NOV 22 for Immigrants

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BRASI Presents:

BrasiMPACT: Communication Skills Refinement; Impact & Influence
Focusing on quickly building interpersonal communication skills and public speaking improvement, with a segment on accent reduction. Geared towards professional immigrants who need to deal with clients, suppliers, managers etc. Ric Phillips, Communication Coach, will provide the small-group training.

Saturday, November 22 2008 9am-3pm
North York Memorial Hall (Gold Room B)
5110 Yonge Street
Concourse Level
Toronto, ON M2N 5V7

Contact Aftab Khan
416.388.8556
info @ brasi.org
http://www.brasi.org/english.php

Register NOW for only $185.00!!! No time to wait!

Use ‘Chunking’ to Help Speak Clearer

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Hello everyone,

Whether you have a ‘thick’ accent or whether you are speaking to someone who has it, there is something you can do to assist the clarity of the conversation. Break up your sentences into smaller chunks, or phrases. Many people wrongfully assume that when you can speak English fast, it is a sign of fluency. Wrong! It is no good if no one can follow you, or if they think you are mumbling, or are simply too embarrassed to tell you that they didn’t understand you, right?

Chunk your sentence delivery. Obey pauses (i.e. commas and dashes) in the sentence, and when necessary, add a few other pauses. Deliver your speaking like you are delivering a speech, without as much emphasis of course, but with deliberate attention to your speed and volume. Example – instead of this:

“Hey John do ya wanna go outtathe bar tonight an watch the hockey game overa few beers?”

Try this:

“Hey John, do you wanna go out to the bar tonight, and watch the hockey game, over a few beers?”

I think you get the point. I know it is hard for me to explain this over text, but if you try the sentence yourself once fast, then once slow, you should be able to tell the difference. Try to get something ‘in between’!  Think about most great speakers, for example on TED Talks videos, or most politicians or spiritual leaders.  They tend to chunk up their delivery of information, as well as use medium volume, medium speed, and appropriate stress.  Try to emulate the great speakers, even when you are having a relaxed conversation.  Just ‘dial down’ the public speaking voice a bit.  🙂  Once again this advice is especially useful if you are speaking with an accent.  Go try.  🙂

How to Introduce a Speaker and How to Be Introduced

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(Communication Strategies from David Greenberg’s Simply
Speaking, Inc.® ‘Forget Your Title, We’re All in Sales!’®
http://www.davidgreenberg.com)

Topic: How to Introduce a Speaker and How to Be Introduced

The speaker introduction is an often overlooked, but vitally
important part of setting the stage for a successful presentation.
When you accept an invitation to speak it is usually in your best
interest to provide the person introducing you with your own
introduction. I suggest using a double-spaced, large font,
bulleted list of facts you want the introducer. Send your
introduction a few days before the presentation to give your
introducer time to practice. Most introducers will be glad you
volunteered to take care of this important detail.

Think of it as a “sin” to poorly introduce a speaker and use the
“SIN” formula to ensure your introductions are effective:

S = Subject
State the subject or title of the presentation.

I = Importance
State why the subject is important to the audience, and
state why the speaker is important (the speaker’s credentials).

N = Name
State the speaker’s name (spell it phonetically in your notes).

Here’s an example:

Subject:
“Our next presenter will tell us about an exciting new tool that
can make each of our jobs easier! This afternoon, we will explore
the advantages of replacing our old accounting software system.”

Importance:
“This presentation will be important to each of you because each
of you uses the accounting system, to either enter data or generate
reports. We know you’ll want to be part of the decision-making
process.”

“Our presenter is highly qualified to recommend a new system. He
is a Certified Public Accountant. He has been with our company for
ten years, and has worked with our current accounting system for
five of those years. He knows first-hand how we operate, and he has
spent the last three months reviewing our needs and speaking with
several accounting software manufacturers.”

Name:
“Help me welcome Division Manager Stan Czachowski.”
(Spelled phonetically in notes “Cha-how-ski”)

Repeat Key Phrases to Help Accent

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One of the things to remember when you are looking to speak English better, is that English is just one part of language, and language is just one part of communication.

A quick way to build rapport with your listener is to take a technique from NLP and mimic or reflect back their favourite words or expressions. This way, even if you ‘have an accent’ it won’t be as important as the fact that you are connecting with the person on their level and making them feel comfortable by using one of their own favourite words/expressions.

This is also a good thing to remember when you are trying to decide if you should sway your English accent towards British or American. The actual answer is – it depends. It depends where you live or who you work with. I am not suggesting you have 2 distinct ‘fake’ voices, one that sounds like James Bond and another that sounds like George W.  I am suggesting that you listen to and imitate the people around you, especially if you are an immigrant. This will help you bridge the gap and increase fluency or at least a sense of fluency until your English improves a bit more.

There is more I could say on this subject but for now the take-away point is to listen to the people around you for their key words and expressions and then repeat them sometimes. Do not be an annoying parrot though.  About 3:1 should suffice.

Assist Your Listener

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Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great summer and not working too hard.

Today I would like to remind you of something I am often repeating in training – assist your listener. Sometimes we can get caught up in our own speaking that we neglect the listener. We may be speaking too quickly, or too quietly, or without enthusiasm or proper stress, or we may be speaking over or under people’s intelligence levels.

Think in the past of someone who spoke to you that way. How did you feel? I hope and assume it was not done on purpose, but still, what is your typical reaction to someone who seems to be pontificating on and on, or otherwise seems to not need you in the conversation? Half of the time my reaction is to just stare with utter amazement! The other half of the time I actively re-balance the conversation with no egos bruised. Would you like to know how to do that? Great! Sign up for coaching! (ha ha).

Our public speaking performance improvement is great for our personal success, of course, but we cannot forget that if we lose our listener’s attention or respect, it is game over. No matter how eloquent of a speaker you may be or how fast you can speak, the important thing to remember is that communication is a dance. You need at least one other person working with you right?

So the next time you have lots to say, are excited, in a hurry, at work presenting ideas or whatever, remember to pause and mentally self-evaluate your delivery tools: volume, speed, rhythm, appropriate vocabulary etc. and ask yourself – can my partner/listener/audience/client/student etc. completely follow me? Do they have enough time to process the information being thrown at them? Are they engaged in this conversation or are they just passively waiting for their turn to speak? If so, what responsibility do you take in that situation? I hope from now on you take a lot of personal interest and responsibility in the ebb and flow of your conversations, and are careful to assist your listener at all times, especially when your listeners change frequently throughout the day, week, month, year and lifetime!

Confidence is Competence!

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They are twins. They are the flip side of a coin. As you build up your belief in yourself to do something you gain the nerve to do it. Once you do it or attempt to do it you start to notice what you are doing right, that it wasn’t as bad as you had imagined it, and that maybe next time will be even better.

As you feel more competent at the activity you start to believe more in your ability to improve and maybe even get good at it. This gives you more confidence, even if it is mostly visualization at the beginning. So I could go on with this email but I think you can see my point. The confidence leads to taking more chances and doing things better, so that increases competence, and the increased competence increases your confidence. It will radiate out of you.

Dale Carnegie said it best: Do the thing that you are afraid of. That is the one sure way of conquering your fear! (He was talking about public speaking, but it can be related to many things).

Until next time!

The Rule of 75%

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I had a fantastic time training the wonderful, energetic group of participants over the last weekend, at our 3V communication course. The first day focused on interpersonal skills and the second more on professional skills and public speaking.

Anyway, unfortunately due to my over-zealousness to try to give the group all of my best information, the afternoon of the second day ended up seeming a bit rushed. I had packed too much information into the course and workbooks, and although they can read it at home as many times as they like to help digest it, it still felt bad to rush material and examples. Not something I wanted to do.

So it reminds me today of the 75% rule of public speaking and presentations. Only prepare for 75% of the time allotted. That way you have time to slow down, relax, field questions, and even digress a little if necessary. You know story-telling is a natural digression and can dramatically increase audience listening and participation too. Every one likes a good (and hopefully relevant) story!

So in closing today’s brief post I am reminded of a great Japanese saying: “Saru mo ki kara ochiru.” What is the translation? “Sometimes even monkeys fall out of trees!” (Hey I fell out of the tree, but I don’t think I broke anything!)

Until next time.

Are You on a Confidence Tightrope?

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Do you know how confident you should act in your presentations?

Robert Herjavec (one of the angel investors from the TV show “Dragons’ Den” and “Shark Tank”) was recently asked this question: “What’s the most common fundraising flaw you see in entrepreneurs?”
His answer: “Overconfidence, bordering on arrogance. Or lack of confidence, bordering on insecurity.”

As a coach and a believer in the power of confident communications, I know how hard it is to walk this tightrope. You don’t want to fall right?  So what should we do? Well the answer for communication is the same answer for the real situation – KEEP YOUR BALANCE.

You must be confident in your pitching and presentations. If you are trying to convince others to believe in you or follow you, you must give them a reason and a feeling to do so. That is right, both logical and emotional reasons must be there. You need to be passionate about what you are saying (or selling) and you need to have hard facts and figures to back up your beliefs.

A confident presenter is challenged less than an unsure or meek one, even on Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank. When a confident person handles the first challenging question successfully, smoothly and convincingly, there is less desire to challenge again and again.

To be confident you must believe in what you are saying, have data to back it up and be comfortable talking about it to others. Confidence comes from competence, and vice versa. Make sure you prepare well.

Keeping your balance means that you must be confident to succeed, especially in North America, and you must balance that with logical reasons so that it is not just your opinion.

For example:

“I think you should buy my soft drink machine because I think it is the best value for money and I get a lot of revenue from it”

could be transformed into:

“To get the best value for your money and a three to one return on investment, choose our soft drink machine. Recent statistics show that there is a growing increase in soft drink machine use when a variety of drinks are offered, and I strongly believe this is the way forward for our company.“

In this example we do not start out with our opinion. We start out with compelling facts and numbers that the logical brain can absorb. Then passion is displayed. It sounds more confident, doesn’t it?